Gazing at the stars, Diamond Bar High School’s Astronomy Club was recently gifted with a sponsorship of $700 from Paliwoda Law Firm to buy a telescope. The club intends on dedicating the instrument to the school and hosting after-school stargazing parties in the near future.

While DBHS previously owned a telescope, it was lost during the reconstruction of the science building; now, the year-old club intends on rediscovering the wonders of the sky. The telescope donated is a SkyWatcher, with the ability to see objects normal telescopes don’t have the capability to see because of its high magnifying capabilities, it would provide club members with a deeper understanding of the stars.

“It’s a really new model that can see lots of cool deep sky objects, the Celestron NexStar 4E. We were extremely lucky to get it donated from Paliwoda Law Firm by Mrs. Deedra Alvarado, and we’ll definitely make as much use of it as possible,” junior Bonnie Nien said, “We were all really excited over it for the whole year, and having a telescope was one of our first goals as a new club.”

Nien reached out to Paliwoda Law Firm and requested the grant from Alvarado. Alvarado wanted to donate to the students because of her personal academic experiences during her childhood.

“I think what inspired me is, as a kid, I grew up with no resources,” Alvarado said. “so, when I see kids that are passionate about learning and schools that are passionate about teaching, whether it is astronomy or sports, I feel like we have a duty to help and support the community.” 

DBHS Astronomy Club holds plans for using the new telescope for future Star Parties, a get-together of students on campus to stargaze. They also hope to invite students from other schools to join so that all students will be able to share the opportunity to use the device as well.

“We will probably start more fundraisers for more money next year so that we are able to host more events revolving around the telescope as well as more field trips, similar to our Griffith Observatory trip.” junior Amanda Goya said.

The club hopes that its members can take advantage of the telescope and use it to further explore the depths of astronomy in the future.

“Overall, we’re really excited to use it and have fun with it,” Nien said. “This definitely wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Alvarado, so we’ll make sure to cherish the telescope and pass it along to future generations of Brahmas.”